Real Madrid’s dream of sextuple dashed by Barça
‘Los Blancos’ fans were dreaming of emulating the feat of the 2009 Barcelona team by winning all six available titles in the 2022-23 season.
Before Sunday night’s Spanish Super Cup final in Riyadh, many people were talking about Real Madrid’s quest to secure an historic ‘sextuple’ this season with the Super Cup set to be the second title of the possible six for the 2022-23 campaign.
Even before the game, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti had to field a serie of questions on the possibility of the club winning all six titles this season. In Saturday’s pre-game press conference the Italian batted away thoughts of the ‘sextuple’ stating: “That’s not on our minds. We only concern ourselves with battling in every competition and every match. Right now, we are only thinking about this trophy, the Super Cup. That’s what we should do, not be thinking about something that is incredibly difficult, or very complicated. We have to take one step at a time until we reach the end of the season”.
What titles contribute to the ‘sextuple’?
With August’s win in Helsinki over Eintracht Frankfurt in the European Super Cup, Madrid embarked on the voyage to win all available titles this season as goals from Alaba and Benzema contributed to a comfortable 2-0 for Madrid over the Bundesliga side.
The Spanish Super Cup would have marked title number two of the six but Madrid were disappointing in a game that there were outclassed by a vibrant and dynamic Barcelona side.
Title number three will be played for in early February as Morocco host the FIFA Club World Cup with games set to be played in Tangier and Rabat. The draw was made on Friday for the seven participating sides and the main threat for the Spanish side comes from Libertadores winners Flamengo.
The Copa del Rey offers the next tilt at silverware as Madrid face a tricky test next Thursday (Round of 16) as they head back to face Villarreal with Quique Setien’s side recently recording a 2-1 LaLiga win over the side from the capital.
The Spanish league and Champions League offer the final two windows to the remaining titles with struggling Liverpool the UCL Round of 16 opponents with the first leg coming up in mid February.
Two sextuples recorded
Only twice have clubs recorded ‘sextuples’ with the 2009 FC Barcelona side under Pep Guardiola bagging the domestic treble of: LaLiga, Copa Del Rey, Spanish Super Cup along with the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
The incredible feat was repeated in 2020 by Bayern Munich with the Bavarians bagging the domestic treble of: Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, DFL Super Cup along with the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.